Julio travels from the countryside to Manila to search for his girlfriend who has moved there but has not written home for quite some time.

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The main part of the movie takes part in Manila where Julio tries to make a living and find time to look for his girlfriend. Julio is among the poorest in society and in order to survive he takes on a variety of jobs. We meet his friends and colleagues and see how they all try to get enough to eat and pay rent. The movie is about poverty and the lowest rungs of Manila society.

“Manila in the claws of light” is just as important as yesterday’s “A river called Titas“, but not equally good. It feels like Julio’s story is staged to have him travel through a variety of different disenfranchised groups and then have some character he meets explain how this or that particular group suffers and what laws could be amended or enforced in order to fix the problem.

“Manila in the claws of light” was not tested on the Bechdel test site, but I could not find any scenes where two named women talked to one another, so I put the movie on the fail test list. For more about the Bechdel test, read my post about women in movies.

Contemplations

The visual and audio of “Manila in the claws of light” is unimpressive, but that might be a consequence of a very low budget, and if that is the case, the movie is much more impressive. There are no problems with the audio or visuals of the movie that in any way disrupts the storytelling, unlike “A river called Titas” witch might be a natural movie to compare this one with. They both appear to be stories about poverty in the developing world told by people from these two poor regions. However, “A river called Titas” had much more impressive and professional footage, although in black and white, while “Manila in the claws of light” lacked the strange and overly long focus on an actors eyes during dramatic developments.

The story in “Manila in the claws of light” seems staged and a tad naive, but still important and it does reveal a several surprising difficulties in Filipino society. I was quite outraged by several injustices after watching the movie.

Judgement

I don’t regret watching “Manila in the claws of light”, and I hope at least some of the injustices the movie portrays were left behind in the 70’s. I will not watch the movie again.

Epilogue

I think it would be valuable for most adults to see this movie once in order to learn more about developing nations difficulties.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “Manila in the claws of light” or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

Tomorrow’s movie is “Waiting for Guffman”. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

A young woman marries a visitor from a nearby village, but on the way to his village she is kidnapped and forgets all details about her husband. Ten years later she remembers the name of her husband’s village and travels there.

Reactions

The beginning of this story was confusing to me, the young woman got married without any preamble, and there was nothing leading up to the wedding. We saw the bridegroom talking with his friend, and through the conversation we learn that he is clearly single and has no particular plans for marriage. Then some people talk about fetching him, and then; a wedding.

After that the story moves from one scene to the next without anything that seems like a hole in the story.

Most of the movie is set after the young bride comes to her mystery husbands fishing village, and we follow many of the people she gets to know there. The story moves from one family and gives a look at their problems, to the next family or person. No one is the sole focus of the story and we see many heart breaking and touching little episodes, all made difficult by the extreme poverty in the village.

A large driving force in everyone’s life is food. They all live from hand to mouth and the river, Titas, where they fish is their source of food, and a little income when they have something to sell. “A river called Titas” shows the choices and struggles made necessary by having little or nothing, and the destruction of village society. A new time is ushered in with no place for village people.

The movie paints what I think is a stark and realistic look at poverty, but not really having experienced a lack of anything, I have had to rely on other’s evaluation of that aspect of the movie.

The stories are touching and even if we don’t get to know all the characters equally well, we do come to care for them. I think the writer of this movie, and the others behind it, must have known the region well and cared for it’s people.

Contemplations

The technical aspects of “A river called Titas” is surprisingly good, and the camerawork can rival many modern high budget movies. Some parts of the film seemed to be overexposed or something like that, but that could be age damage. The only strange thing was a long close up of people’s faces when they had a dramatic moment.

The Bechdel test was not performed for “A river called Titas” on the Bechdel test site, but I think it passes the test. An example of a scene that has two named female characters talking about something other than men, is near the end where Basanti and another woman discuss the past and their fights as youngsters. (For more about the Bechdel test, read my post about women in movies.)

Judgement

I liked most of the movie, the beginning was as mentioned somewhat strange, but the rest was a hard look at poverty and how privileged I am. That is not something I wish to do often, but being a little shaken out of my bubble is good for the soul. I am glad I watched “A river called Titas”, but it will be a while til I watch it again.

Epilogue

“A river called Titas” can be watched by anyone as a look at poverty and touching stories, but it is not light entertainment. For an evening where a few good jokes does not seem enough, this is a movie I can recommend.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “A river called Titas” or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

44 movies down. 321 to go.

If you want to get “A river called Titas” from Amazon, here is a link for that. They might have the movie other places too.

Tomorrow’s movie is “Manila in the claws of light”. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

Bess lives in a religious cult somewhere in Scotland in the early 70’s. She marries the outsider Jan and when he has an accident on the oil rig where he works Bess comes to believe that God tells her how to save him.

Reactions

I have set a new record; I fell asleep four times during this movie. I did not find anything of what I saw on screen interesting or entertaining. Quite early in the movie it became clear to me that I did not care what happened to these people. I have tried to figure out the reason, but have fallen a bit short.

It could be that I did not get to know the characters well enough to empathize. The movie did after all go directly into the action, but several other times this has not lead me to care less for the characters.

Or maybe it was that they lead such different lives from me that I could not relate to their situation or actions, but after all, I can watch Star Trek and care what happens to the crew of the Enterprise, so that is probably not the reason.

In short, I have not been able to come up with an explanation for my lack of interest in the movie, nut maybe with some more time to digest the experience, it will become clearer to me.

Contemplations

The acting was good, and the main character Bess, played by Emily Watson, stood out as a stellar performance.

The story was unusual, but had both twists and turns, and plenty of action and drama. So why was I not entertained?

My temporary theory is that the answer lies in the storytelling. It was slow, kind of mundane and took it’s time to make each point in the plot. But this might be an opinion I will revise later.

I’m afraid this captain’s log leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

“Breaking the waves” did not have the Bechdel test performed on the Bechdel site, so I looked for the conditions to pass the test while watching the movie. I could not find a scene where to named female characters that had a conversation about something other than a man. Maybe not so surprising as part of the story is that Bess is to occupied by her husband and she centers her life around him. For more about the Bechdel test and some more about women in movies, read my post about Hollywood and women.

Judgement

I did not enjoy “Breaking the waves”. It was simply incredibly boring for some reason.

Epilogue

I would not recommend this movie to anyone. It is unusually sleep inducing.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “Breaking the waves” or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

29 movies down. 336 to go.

If you want to get “Breaking the waves” from Amazon, here is a link for that. Although I don’t see why you would.

Tomorrow’s movie is “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?“. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

A surgeon in Victorian London discovers a man being exhibited as “The elephant man”. Through various interactions this surgeon, Frederick Treves, gets to know the severely deformed John Merrick. Treves discovered that Merrick, who has until now been kept as an exhibit, is a well educated and kind man. Treves tries to give Merrick a life worth living.

Reactions

I have not seen this movie before, and was surprised at how different it was from what I expected from a movie by David Lynch. (“Twin Peaks” is a favorite of mine.) The surreal and unexpected elements weren’t there, and the sometimes slower scenes that focus on minor events in daily life were just boring in this movie. In for instance “Twin Peaks” I found the little stops at the diner in the morning entertaining, while in “The elephant man” I struggled to keep my attention on the screen at times. However, I was also quite moved during other parts.

“The elephant man did not already have the Bechdel test performed on the Bechdel site, so I attempted to see if the movie would pass. There are a few scenes with more than one woman, and there are even a few scenes where both women are named, but they keep talking about men. There is one scene where I am uncertain if the content counts as being “something other than a man”. It is the matron and a nurse is talking in front of a mirror. The nurse says something to the effect of “It was nice of Mrs. Kendall to lend me this dress for going to the theater. Does she know [what is happening to Merrick]?”

The first part is about something other than a man, but it is immediately followed by talk of a man, so is that enough?

I am open to suggestions, but for now I failed the movie.

Contemplations

The acting was amazing, and specially John Hurt as John Merrick was convincing. The mixture of naivety and life experience was both fascinating and strange.

The story is based on the life of Joseph Merrick who lived in Victorian London, and had a quite similar life story to the John Merrick in the movie. Weather his personality or that of his surgeon savior was anything like depicted is uncertain.

The story in “The elephant man” is good and entertaining, but a little to shallow to keep my attention for a whole movie.

The choice to make the movie black and white puzzles me. This part of the Victorian era, approximately 1886 to 1890, it not a time where this photography could have been made. It is probably an attempt at making the movie seem closer to the time this story happened, and maybe put a focus on the real life of Joseph Merrick, but I don’t think it succeeds. It just seems like a cheap way of making the sets and costumes.

Judgement

I will probably not watch this movie again. I would not mind terribly if someone else put it on, but I would not search it out.

Epilogue

I would not recommend “The elephant man” unless someone is particularly interested in this side of Victorian England.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “The Elephant man” or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

15 movies down. 350 to go.

If you want to get “The Elephant man” from Amazon, here is a link for that. They probably have the movie many other places too. Maybe it’s already on your shelf?

Tomorrow’s movie is “Hell or high water“. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

Murli Prasad “Munna Bhai” Sharma is an Indian mafia leader, but has told his parents that he is a doctor. When they suddenly decide to visit from their village Murli and his crew must make their regular headquarters look like a clinic for the needy. The parents are fooled until they set up a meeting with a prospective bride for Murli, and she turns out to be an actual doctor. From there hilarity ensues.

Reactions

First of all, I liked the movie, there were however some culture clashes for a regular westerner viewer. For instance the parents of Murli setting him up on a date, and with a prospective bride to boot, was completely alien. The mother’s overly dramatic plea to see grandchildren before she died, seemed quite familiar though.

I have not seen this or any other Bollywood movie before, and this was a nice intro to the genre. I don’t really know how representative it is, but it is the highest rated Indian movie on IMDb so I assume it is regarded quite favorably by the target audience.

A little bit into the movie I realized that the title was a joke, so I will try to explain the concept to any other foreign viewers. “Munna” is translated to English as “Brother”, and is a moniker that only members of the mafia calls one another. And M.B.B.S. is a medical degree, so “Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.” means “Doctor mafia brother Bhai”.

This movie did not have the Bechdel-test performed on it on the Bechdel test site already, but there were no scenes with two named women without one of the male characters having center stage. I will say that the movie does not pass the Bechdel test.

Contemplations

The story is typical for a light hearted romantic comedy; far fetched and entertaining. They do try to get a message across, that doctors should see patients as individuals and not become bureaucrats.

All the actors were just fine in their roles and they also had to be able to sing and dance, which they did well. That is what makes this movie fun; the colorful musical numbers. It is everything that I would expect from a musical; people suddenly bursting into song and folks in the streets joining in complex dance choreography. Brilliant.

The remainder of the music, the regular film music, was reminiscent of the 80’s though. It didn’t fit with the movie and was quite a bit to dominating on several occasions.

The main character, played by Sanjay Dutt, has a more ordinary look than the polished Hollywood actors which makes the character relatable. This might not be the case for Indian viewers though, as they might have a different ideal for male beauty.

The musical numbers were fun and catchy and the choreography was visually inventive and fun. (At least to someone not used to Bollywood.)

Judgement

I would definitely watch this movie again. There were many weird things, maybe especially regarding gender roles, but it was fun and entertaining. In fact I was so entertained by the movie that I will try to find the time to watch the sequel where Murli goes on another adventure. This time he is helped by Mahatma Gandhi who only he can see. The concept of that plot is just crazy enough so that I have to see it.

Epilogue

I would recommend this movie to others, pretty much regardless of who they are. I think everyone knows what to expect from a Bollywood movie, even if they haven’t seen one before, so there should be no need to explain much beforehand either.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “Munna Bahi M.B.B.S” or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

14 movies down. 351 to go.

If you want to get “Munna Bahi M.B.B.S” from Amazon, here is a link for that. They probably have the movie many other places too. Maybe it’s already on your shelf?

Tomorrow’s movie is “The Elephant man“. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

Two young offenders are taken to a small village where they had a fight a few days ago, and as a result did some damage to people and property. Representatives from the court goes with them, and they have to reenact what happened for a movie that will be shown as a deterrent against alcohol.

Reactions

The good news is that I only fell asleep once. The story was just fine, but could easily have been told in twenty minutes without much loss. It would have been a good short story, I think.

I had the feeling me and some friends could have gone to a small village and hacked this out in a couple of days. (If the weather was on our side.)

I had not seen this movie before. The movie also wasn’t listed on the Bechdel test list that looks for presence of women in movies, but it clearly didn’t pass the test. (For more on the Bechdel test and women in movies, you can check out my post on how women were regulated into boredom in Hollywood.)

There is only one named woman in the movie and she runs around in a bikini the whole time and behaves like a child. There is also a dreadful scene where a young man forces a kiss upon the woman and she fights him. Initially. And then she enjoys it, when he finally manages to plant a proper kiss on her. It looked very much like the beginning of a rape. I hope I don’t have to explain how much this bothered me.

I honestly don’t know if this was a part of critiquing society or not. I will give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt and say that they are trying to show that this is all a woman is permitted to be under this regime.

Contemplations

The acting was quite good, and so was the images and sound, considering it was a black-and-white movie. For a low budget movie, there is nothing to complain about, except the heavy use of sirens in the movie, witch is a little annoying. Of course the images can not compete with a modern blockbuster that has millions upon millions in budget.

The surface story of the movie is simple and straight forward, but through this reenactment we see how a communist regime constructs propaganda, and how the individual’s needs versus society’s needs is given different priority than we are used to in the west. All the little protests and the strange hierarchy between the men involved in the reconstruction, makes this movie more than it’s story.

The movie illustrates well how abuse of power and disregard for the individual quickly takes root in places we often refers to as regimes and not just as countries. And it is impressive to think that this was made on the inside, in Ceaușescu’s Romania.

The movie is supposed to be a comedy and a drama, but I didn’t really laugh at anything. There were many absurdities, such as the younger men with lower status being orderd to take a brake and chase after a flock of geese. It was just absurd though, not funny. Maybe something was lost in translation?

I still think this story could have been told in twenty minutes, also with these other elements. Even if I only fell asleep once, I was close a few other times.

Judgement

I would really rather not see it again. I’ve seen it now and that is enough. I don’t think it was a waste of my time, but once was enough.

Epilogue

I would recommend this movie only to people who are curious about life inside Romania in the early 60’s. The story is based on real events, so it shouldn’t be to unrealistic.

Over to you

If you’ve recently seen “Reenactment” (Reconstituirea) or you’re watching along with my year of movies, please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the movie or note down your opinion somewhere else.

Five movies down. 360 to go.

If you want to watch “Reenactment (Reconstituirea)”, the only place I have been able to find it is YouTube. They might have the movie other places too.

Tomorrow’s movie is “Lawrence of Arabia“. Get some more information about this movie and the other movies on my watch list this week on the upcoming movies page. If you’re new to this site and are wondering why I’m watching a movie every day for a year, read more about my experiment.

As was suggested by a reader, I have checked whether the 365 movies on my list for the experiment, pass the Bechdel-test.

The Bechdel test is a simple test for any work of fiction that looks for the active presence of women, and calls attention to gender inequality. There are three parts to the test.

A work of fiction:

Must have at least two (named) female characters

that speak to one another

about something other then men.

The Bechdel website has a long list of already tested movies, and most of the movies on my list were already there.

And these are the test results for those movies.

Only 328 of the 365 movies on my list had the Bechdel test already performed and put on the Bechdel website, so the remainder I will try to test as year moves along. The test is not something usable for documentaries, so they will forever remain out of my statistics. For the rest, I will update my numbers near the end of the year.

The movies on my list are picked from the most critically acclaimed and the ones that audiences herald to be the best. And a significantly lower percentage of these 328 movies pass the Bechdel test, than the more general selection of all the movies tested on the Bechdel-site. I am quite sure my sample is too small for any certain conclusions, and the movies on the Bechdel-site might not be a representative selection of all movies, but there is definitely a trend.

If a movie is a favorite of critics or audiences or both, it is less likely to pass the Bechdel test.

I also checked whether one of my movies is more or less likely to pass the test if it is in English, or if it is a foreign language movie. And while there is a difference in the percentages, this difference is not significant. The number of foreign language movies that were on my list and already had the test performed, was quite low, so this might mean nothing in general.

It is however not so surprising that movies from Hollywood don’t pass the Bechdel test, if you read about how writers learn to make a script.

It seems we still might not have moved past this:

As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.

-Virginia Wolf in Orlando (1928)

Pre-code movies

There are several sources for errors in these numbers and one of them is to treat movies from different times in the same manner. Simply lumping all the movies into one group could give the wrong impression, which is why I divided the movies into decades as well. However, one thing that is not reflected in these numbers even then, is that Hollywood movies from before 1934 and after were made under very different circumstances.

First there were the silent movies, where it seems that talent was the driving factor in casting decisions, even if looks always will be a factor in a visual media. Here women could be stars and their stories were told. Of course this did happen in a society where women many places didn’t even have the right to vote yet.

And Hollywood was off to a decent start. The first full length Hollywood comedy (a silent movie) was called “Tillie’s punctured romance” (1914) and it came out six years before women had the right to vote in the US. It starred Marie Dressler, a 44 year old wonderfully funny and rotund woman. Tillie is undoubtedly the star of this story and Charles Chaplin and the rest of the cast are supporting characters. This does seem like a different approach than what we see in current Hollywood. It should be noted that Charles Chaplin was not familiar to most audiences yet, and the lovable Tramp character debuted the same year as this movie.

If you should happen to be curious about this movie – here it is. It might be worth a look just for Tillie’s hats. It is a slapstick comedy, complete with bumbling and falling down cops and a car chase (well, there is a chase and there is a car taking part in it).

Fun fact: Marie Dressler claimed she cast Charles Chaplin in this movie and was glad to give him his first big break.

While this movie doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, it does seem to tell the story of a woman, and considering the time it was made, I think it is kind of OK, gender wise.

Next came the talkies. It was a gradual shift, but generally they started being shown in 1927, and until 1934, times were good for women in movies.

These years are called the pre-code era, and while not all movies from this time are pre-code movies, all those who would have broken later censorship rules, are given this moniker. These rules that became enforced from 1934 and onwards, regulated a lot of the behavior and appearance of women on screen.

1932 promotional photo of Joan Blondell for the movie “Three on a match” (1932). This photo was later banned.

Pre-code movies dealt with divorce, some of the reality of women during the depression, infidelity, homosexuality, sexually liberated women and they showed both nudity and different states of partial undress. All this went away when the censorship rules entered the stage in 1934, and would not return for a long time.

While female characters from the pre-code movies may not have been liberated or independent by our standards, they were women that got some parts of their stories told and the on-screen roles were often more liberated than what most women could hope for in their real lives.

One example of realism that probably should be seen in the context of the time when it was made, is the musical number below. It looks at some unusual material for a musical, which is often a more escapism type of movie. The song is from the 1933 movie “Gold diggers of 1933” and the is called “Remember my forgotten man”, performed by Joan Blondell and Etta Moten. (This movie also has other quite brilliant musical numbers. Maybe especially “We’re in the money”.)

This longing for the men who they probably held dear, but whom they also needed to provide for their families, was quite real during the depression. Women could not easily provide for their families. If they were lucky enough to get a job, it did not pay very well, and a lot less than a man holding the same position. In addition it was difficult to find childcare that did not eat up all the woman’s wages. Independence was next to impossible for the less than wealthy.

The term “forgotten man” was coined in a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1932:

These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power, for plans like those of 1917 that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

On a side note to the gender issues, homosexuals were portrayed in pre-code movies, but generally not in a very positive manner. Although movies after the censorship took effect, did not portray them at all. Not sure which is better.

The movies of the pre-code era often showed women that took initiative to sexual encounters, divorce and infidelity, and were active in other ways as well.

In “Design for living” (1933) a woman can not decide between two men who love her, so all three end up living together, presumably platonically.

Betty Boop in 1933 and 1939.

Then came the censors and female characters in movies became passive, covered up and in all honesty, quite boring. They were often infantilized and reduced to props for male characters.

I tried to see if there were any difference in the portion of movies that passed the Bechdel test in the movies on my list before and after 1934. The movies from the pre-code part of the 30’s had 51% pass, while the remainder had 46% pass. However this is the list where it has already been established (above) that the movies are less likely to pass the test, due to the critical acclaim or popularity of the movies.

Everyone’s stories in movies

After 1934 is seems we entered a long period where movies tell the stories of white men, but the last six or seven years have luckily seen quite positive trends (see statistics above) towards a different approach in Hollywood, although there is far from equality yet.

Jessica Chastain put this very well:

We need more diversity. We’re not telling the stories of many, we’re telling the stories of few. There’s a problem with the storytelling, with the protagonists…it’s in front of the camera, it’s behind the camera…This is not how we want to be working and we need to tell the stories of all.

Until next time,

live long and prosper.

P.S. Have I already started to sound more like a critic?

Photo at the top of the post shows a scene from the musical “42nd Street” (1933), in which auditioning women show their legs for the director.